OAKLAND - Across the country at The Q before last Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers planted a small seed of doubt in the heads of the Golden State Warriors.

Now that the Cavaliers had finally won an NBA Finals game against three losses, they wanted it to sprout into an orchard of bad apples, infecting the Warriors' arrogance and smugness.

The Cavs had come from a 1-3 Finals deficit to beat the Warriors last year. An 0-3 rally had never been done in the NBA in any round, but neither had last year's resurrection on the biggest stage until the Cavs popped out of the coffin.

A city of some doubt and more than a little fear

On the eve of Monday's fifth game, the sunlight flashed on the harbor water like a reflecting mirror at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance loomed like a symbol for the dominance that probably lies ahead for the Warriors.

The cutting wind on the bright evening, however, was like the doubt carving away at fans' confidence.

At Joe's Crab Shack -- a restaurant saluting Dominic DiMaggio, "better than his brother Joe," as the old baseball song went -- fans broke out in occasional spontaneous "Warrrriorrrs" chants.

They were sure the Warriors were better than Cavs now that Kevin Durant, a former NBA Most Valuable Player, had joined their team.

Down the Wharf, Jeremy Staedler, the general manager of Alioto's, a famous seafood restaurant, dryly said, "I think it might be pretty loud around here if the Warriors win."

Staedler was in his first day on the job as the "events" manager at a private club near the Transamerica Pyramid in 2010, when the San Francisco Giants won their first of three World Series in this decade. It was their first since they relocated from New York in the 1950s.

The event Staedler was managing was engulfed and transfigured by the city-wide joy. "We were overwhelmed," he said.

The Warriors had never won an NBA championship at home, neither in 1975 nor in 2015.

"They better win Monday. Otherwise, this sets in," Staedler said, pointing his finger to his head, where the uncertainly would grow.

They have won one here now, though, finishing off the Cavs, 129-120, Monday night, taking the Finals in five games, and concluding a stunning 16-1 postseason.

Against Durant, too far to climb

In the second quarter, Golden State went on a 27-4 run, burying the Cavs who had led by 41-33. .

The Cavs scrambled back to within five points, the last time at 103-98 with 10 1/2 minutes to go, but the hill was too high.

At Roaracle (nee, Oracle) Arena, "All gold everything," read the words on the T-shirts passed out to fans. If only their silence, a visiting player's sweetest sound, had been golden too.

The biggest roars in a night of constant sonic barrages went to Durant, who was the MVP of the Finals, bolstered by his star-studded cast, scoring 39 points and making 14 of 20 shots. Five of them were 3-pointErs.

An old script, by James and by Warriors

LeBron James led the Cavs with an incredible effort - 41 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists. Kyrie Irving, a resurgent J.R. Smith and an aggressive Tristan Thompson backed him with double figure scoring. Irving scored 26, although it took him 22 shots.

But foul-played Kevin Love managed only six points in 30 minutes, although he chipped in 10 rebounds.

In Alioto's Sunday, waitress Roxanne Machado, when told the Cleveland newspaperman whose order she had taken was covering his third Cavaliers-Warriors Finals, said "So you've been watching the same game for three years?"

It was a good line. It would be funnier if Monday's game were like the last three of last year's Finals and not the first three of this year's.

But the whole Bay Area no longer cared about the bad seed, only the good times.